So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:9,10 ESV)
Rest
I used to hate mowing the lawn. But now I find it exhilarating. The same task can be tiresome or wonderful. But for me, having the right mower, the right yard, the right amount of time to commit to the job, and a certain mysterious element have pushed my work into the joyful.
I am not sure what the mysterious element is in lawnmowing… but I know what it is in most of my life. Unsurprisingly, it has to do with Jesus.
The work that we realize we are doing for God is actually done by, through, in, and for Jesus. And that, according to the book of Hebrews, makes it not really work… but rest.
Maybe because He takes the effects of our work on His back. Maybe because He cleans up the work, fixing Adam’s curse of sweaty toil. Maybe because He empowers, guides, and supports our work.
But just like God has continued to ‘work’ after the 7th day of creation, but in a different way, we work differently when we are in Him. Our work becomes a sort of rest.
We are peculiar, even our work is rest.